Computers in your clothes? A new milestone for wearable technology
COLUMBUS, Ohio: Researchers who are working to develop wearable electronics have reached a milestone: They are able to embroider circuits into fabric with 0.1 mm precision—the perfect size to integrate electronic components such as sensors and computer memory devices into clothing.
With this advance, the Ohio State University researchers have taken the next step toward the design of functional textiles — smart clothes that gather, store, or transmit digital information.
With further development, the technology could lead to shirts that act as antennas for your smart phone or tablet, workout clothes that monitor your fitness level, sports equipment that monitors athletes’ performance, a bandage that tells your doctor how well the tissue beneath it is healing—or even a flexible fabric cap that senses activity in the active human brain. That last item is one that John Volakis, director of the Electro-Science Laboratory at Ohio State, and research scientist A sim in a Ki our ti are investigating.
The idea is to make brain implants, which are under development to treat conditions from epilepsy to addiction, more comfortable by eliminating the need for external wiring on the patient’s body.
“A revolution is happening in the textile industry,” said Volakis, who is also the Roy & Lois Chope Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio State.
“We believe that functional textiles are an enabling technology for communications and sensing—and one day even medical applications like imaging and health monitoring.” — Newswise